Australian and New Zealand Gardening: Bromeliads for novices and Addicts - Dec 2012, 4 by bromishy

bromishy wrote:
Hi All!

BIG thread today – my apologies in advance but I need to seize the opportunity when it presents itself lol.

Took a day’s annual leave today as had to drop car in for a service and it would cost way too much for me to taxi into work and back so normally I take day off and drop car in really early so I can pick it up late arvo so I am not without a vehicle for the next day.

Spending the rest of the day in the garden as have heaps of brom splitting to do as some of the broms I purchased recently had two or more broms in the one pot that are fighting for room to breathe; this will hopefully promote them to pup as some of them are in flower, I normally do not separate them until after they flower but I really have no choice as they are that squashed up together there would be no room for them to pup anyway, aside from the fact that the pots keep falling over all the time from being too top heavy and some of the pots are perishing.

Shaded another part of our entertainment area early this morning before it got too hot so I could shelter some more of my Vrieseas . I am chasing as much shade possible at the moment, especially for my Vrieseas; I also like to keep them in our entertainment area because aside from this protecting them from the sun it also protects them from wind and debris damage given how long some of their leaves can grow, so they tend to receive more damage than my neo’s if I have them outside. I do have a few duplicate Vrieseas outside tucked in between and under shrubs and they appear to be doing fine.

Hi Shirley pleased to hear you liked my Ae. Ensign, yeah it does have a lot of white which I am very pleased about as I really want to inject more white amongst all my other broms as I seem to collect the darker types with deep colouring for some reason? Joe recently purchased Ae. Orlandiana “Pinky” that I had my eye on from EBay and am really looking forward to receiving it in the mail, as soon as I have received and potted up I will upload a pic to everyone.

Shirley thanks for clarifying the colour of your Neo Camelot is Pale Yellowish Green, it still looks absolutely divine and so very different to mine. I really like your Pic of Nid Innocenti; it is a very striking plant with those beautiful variegated leaves.

Hi Bree I think the NOID Pup I thought was Neo Stormy Weather but is not is nearly ready to separated and send off to you, I will have to look and see if I have anything else ready that I can pop in a parcel for you, so can you please D-Mail me with your postal details etc. when you get a chance. Hey those squashed broms you posted pics of sadden me he he, but hey at least they will recover down the track when they grow some new foliage. A few of mine got SMASHED with Avocado’s right in the centre and they are still alive and growing new foliage, I just tend to put them further back in the queue rather than right up in front because they look a bit neglected lol. Anyway they are protected now by the temp shade cloth structure I recently constructed.

Bree I just found a pup I separated that you might like of Neo ‘Scandal’ – Seed Parent (carolinae x sapiatibensis), Hybridizer Skotak, C. It is a very nice variegated pup that I think gets very pink in the centre; the half dead mother that I took it off appears to be a medium sized grower, I have placed her in my retirement village as she may just produce a few more pups now that I have cut pups off her (you just never know). Anyway please let me know if you are interested or not as I have a spare I can also post to you? Bree I have posted Pic 1 so you can see well established pup, I think it needs a semi shady spot even though it’s leaves are thick and leathery to touch?

I can’t wait to have some time off over Xmas as I have a few more projects in mind for the garden, we have a huge clumping palm tree of some sort NOID in the front yard that would be great for shading broms under, I am planning to dig a large circle around the palm tree and reinforce the circle with either rocks, bricks or something else and then top the area up with nice large pebbles for all my broms to sit on. Anyway hopefully I will get some of this done over my Xmas break? I have pruned a lot of the inner part of the palm tree back to let more light and air in. I also want to continue extending the back brom garden bed, I have the shade cloth part already done as this area gets slammed by direct sun from about 12noon onwards and the irrigation line we ran along the top if the fence is in place and operational; we would only uncover this area for parts of the day like on weekends. It is not ideal but at least it gives me more room to house some of my Neo’s and the ones that are under there at present appear very happy.

Anyway time to go and get my hands dirty as these broms need to be split and potted up – ah how relaxing a task it is.

Hi to everyone else who may be looking in or is on the Sick List. Until next time take care everyone, speak soon and Happy Gardening!

Trish

I will post this thread later this arvo once I have taken some pics to attach.
Pic 1 Neo Scandal
Pic 2 Friend Wallaby that came to visit us today while I had the camera around my neck walking around the garden.
Pic 3 Nev I thought you might appreciate this photo taken today also of the Sunbird that very often visits me when I am in the garden, a bit like the ones that visit you in your nursery. How beautiful are they.
Pic 4 Neo Rose Blush
Pic 5 My Woolworths purchase the other day of Ae. Fasciata ‘Pink Vase’